If They Stayed
by Amy-Swamy
Summary: What would Rand, Mat and Perrin's lives be like if they stayed in the Two Rivers and the trollocs never attacked? Who would they have married? Would they have had kids?


**A/N: I'm not Robert Jordan. I can't be, since he has passed. I'm only a fifteen year old girl who loves the WOT books and writing.**

Rand and Egwene stood over the crib looking at their newborn.

"Isn't he handsome?"Egwene whispered leaning her head on Rand's shoulder.

Rand nodded and wrapped his hand around his wife's, pulling her out of the bedroom. Sitting down next to the fire, Rand pulled out his pipe while Egwene started to knit. Rand closed his eyes and puffed on his pipe. The Women's Circle had been there earlier to greet the newest member of the al'Thor family. They had claimed he would be lucky for he was the first child born in the Two Rivers that year.

Tamlin; that was the name they had agreed on, after his grandfather. Tam was delighted to have a namesake and Egwene thought that it suited the babe perfectly.

Rand thought the name was a good one. Yes. Tamlin al'Thor. A lucky boy he would be.

* * *

Perrin sat next to the fire watching his wife who was washing the dishes they had dirtied earlier. He smiled to himself as she turned sideways. Her stomach stuck out with their first child. Sitting the cup she was drying on the counter, she grimaced and put her hand on her stomach. Perrin's smile fell as he went to get up from his chair. Ellwin held up a hand and shook her head.

"No. He's only kicking." She straightened herself up and smiled.

"A he is it?" Perrin asked sitting back and smiling again.

"Just a small feeling I have." Ellwin winked and went back to work.

She always said that she was lucky to have him, but he knew he was the lucky one. Ever since the Women's Circle had given her permission to braid her hair, the boys had been flocking around her. Even though nobody would say it out loud, everybody in Emond's Field thought that she was the prettiest girl in the Two Rivers. Every boy in the village had been after her, but she only had eyes for the blacksmith's apprentice. He didn't even know why. He wasn't as good looking as Wil, as fun as Mat, or as good of a hunter as Rand.

He and Ellwin were opposites, but the older folks had always said the opposites would attract. She was slight and short, he was stocky and tall. She was outgoing and he was shy.

After they had married the boys had stopped chasing her, but he knew they still looked. Even strangers when they came to the small village watched her go by. But they would never do anything to offend her; they were all too afraid that the blacksmith would harm them.

Finishing the cleaning, Ellwin sat across from Perrin and put her feet up on his lap. The glow of the fire added to the glow of her pregnancy. She smiled sweetly at him, leaned her head back and closed her eyes.

* * *

Mat sat himself next to his wife and gave her a kiss. Smiling at him she put her hand on her stomach. They had been trying for a baby for around two years.

After the Wisdom had left, they just sat there grinning like fools. A baby. They were going to have a baby.

"It took long enough," Mat said his face buried in his wife's hair.

"It did. But I only think that it the Two Rivers blood in the child. It's already as stubborn as the rest of us," Sara told him, laughing.

* * *

Mat burst through the door, his brow furrowed. On their bed was his wife, pure pain running across her face. Her eyes flew towards him and her lips fell into a deep frown.

"Get out! Get out now, Matrim Cauthon! This is all your doing!" Sara yelled at him from the bed.

Mat took a step back as one of the girls slammed the door shut. He turned to his two friends, Rand and Perrin, and gave them a quizzical look.

"Why doesn't she want me in there with her?" he asked the two men. "She is having my child."

"Don't worry. Egwene didn't want me in the room with her either when she was having Tam," Rand said leaning back in his chair.

"They let me in the room with Ellwin, but they wouldn't let me near the bed. I think it's something to with them not wanting you to see them in a state of weakness," Perrin explained. "I don't think you would want to be in there anyways. It's terrible. You just sit back and watch your wife in more pain than you could imagine."

Sitting down in one of the chairs, Mat held his head in his hands. A scream of pain came from the room making the three men jump. Mat started to get up, but stopped when Rand shook his head. They sat in silence for three hours before Perrin stood up.

"I have to get back to the shop." He nodded and walked out the door.

"I should go too," Rand said unfolding his fall form from the chair.

Mat sat by himself for another two hours before the door to his bedroom opened. He jumped up when Egwene came out of the room.

"How is she? Is she okay?"

"Shi is doing well; nothing to worry about."

"Can I go see her?"

"No. You can't see her until that child is out. You can make yourself useful and get another pail of water."

Mat grabbed the bucket from her and raced out to the well. Egwene was waiting for him when he came back in.

"You just wait here in case we need you again."

Mat sat in the chair with his head back and his eyes closed. The screams of his wife came faster and louder as another four hours fell away. Not being able to take it anymore, he walked out the door and into the cool air. The sky was dark now and there was barely anybody in the streets. Mat leaned against the house and looked up at the stars. He took a deep breath, held it, and let it out. The door flew open and an exhausted looking Egwene stood there. Mat tripped over himself and landed on the ground at her feet.

"Matrim Cauthon! I thought I told you to stay right where you were!" A small smile played on her lips. "It's all done. It took nine hours, but it's all finished and there's a new little addition to the Cauthon family."

Egwene moved out of the doorway as Mat jumped to his feet and bolted into the house. The Wisdom and Ellwin sat in the chairs that were previously occupied by Rand and Perrin. He walked in the open door of his bedroom to find his mother gathering up the soiled bed sheets and Sara's mother pouring fresh water into the basin.

Sara lay on the bed, her hair stuck to her head and her body covered in sweat, holding a small bundle wrapped in a blanket.

"There's my son," Mat said fondly as he walked towards his wife and sat down on the edge of the bed.

"No, my heart. No son here, only a daughter," Sara cooed smiling at him.

"A daughter?" Sara nodded at him. Surely they were wrong; surely they were only joking with her. He had wanted a son. Rand and Perrin both had sons.

"Isn't she the most beautiful creature you have ever seen?" Mat's mother asked standing next to him.

"Mat looked down at the child and nodded. She was beautiful. A dark mop of hair covered her head and she looked up at him with blue eyes. Not quite the blue eyes of a newborn, but eyes the colour of his mother's.

Looking up from his daughter, he smiled at his mother. Both of the older women smiled at the couple and their child before leaving the room.

One the door shut, Mat looked at his wife. "What's her name?" he asked dumbly.

"Well," Sara said slowly as if speaking to a child. "I was thinking that you should name her.

"Natti." Mat smiled thing of his mother. "Yes, little Natti Cauthon named after her grandmother."

* * *

Sitting by the fire in the Winespring Inn, Rand, Mat, Perrin and their wives talked and watched their children.

"Where are you going?" little Natti Cauthon asked the two boys who were heading towards the door.

"None of your business," Win told her, pushing his curly hair out of his eyes.

"Can I go with you?" Natti had stopped, folded her hands in front of her, and smiled hopefully.

"No!" Both of the boys said, each shooting her a dark look.

"We don't want you with us," Tam explained taking a step closer to the door.

"Oh," whispered the girl bowing her head. Turning around she walked over to where she was sitting before.

Ellwin and Egwene both cleared their throats and gave their sons a look. The boys sighed and looked back towards the girl.

"Fine, you can come with us. Just don't be a bug," said the taller of the two boys.

Natti's face lit up as she jumped to her feet. Together the trio left the inn, only one of them with a smile on their face.

"'We don't want you with us'," Sara said with a laugh. "They won't be saying that in another ten years."

**A/N: How was it? Did you like it? Hate it? Why? Did you like the OCs? Thanks!**


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